Connector for sector conductor cables



Jan. 23, 1940. E. D. EBY

CONNECTOR FOR SECTOR CONDUCTOR CABLES Filed Sept. 16, 1938 llllllllllllllll,

Inventorb Eugene y.` byfy/ M ls Attorney Patented Jan. -23, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Eugene D. Eby, Pittsfield, Mass., assigner to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York Application September 16, 1938, Serial No. 230,259

5 Claims.

Thepresent practice in jointing corresponding stranded conductors of multi-conductor cables is to use tubular connector sleeves with cylindrical bores, which are longitudinally split or slotted in order to receive molten solder for uniting the parts. Such a split connector can be opened or closed sufiiciently to accommodate irregularly shaped conductors, and also it can be bent or squeezed around the conductors to a limited extent for the purpose of reducing the size thereof and also the sizeof the solder cavities. In the case of sector conductors, the ends to be connected may not match, and this has to be taken care of as well as possible by bending or twisting the split connector sleeve between. its ends and by compressing the wall thereof inwardly to conform as closely as possible to the shape of the conductors. As will be appreciated, much depends upon the skill of the Jointer whether the joint is properly made. It will also be appreciated that with such tools as are available for use by a jointer, the connector after its application is liable to have solder cavities which are too large and also to present irregularities on the outer surface thereof which render it more difficult to properly insulate.

It is desirable for many reasons, including the fire' hazard, to use solderless connectors for uniting adjacent cable ends. lTo be satisfactory, a pressure-attached connector must be in the form of a tube without a slot, and its bore must conform closely to the size and shape of the conductors. Such a connector cannot be shaped in the field by means available to the jointer, who commonly does his work in a manhole. Furthermore, a plain tubular sleeve for` pressure application is not adapted for use where the ends of conductors to be jointed are of segmental or sector shape and fail to match.

An object of my invention is the provision of an improved connector for stranded sector type conductor cables.

A further object of my invention is the provision of an improved connector for stranded sector conductors in which the strands of the conductors are initially snugly seated within the bore thereof with means for taking care of such angular misalignment of the conductor ends as may be encountered in service.

For a consideration of what I believe to be novel and my invention, attention is directed to the accompanying description and claims appended thereto.

In the accompanying drawing, which is illus- (Cl. P14- 90) view of a three-conductor sector type cable; Fig. 2 is a cross-section thereof; Fig. 3 is an exploded view of a three-part connector; Fig. 4 is a sectional view of a three-part connector as applied to a pair of cable ends; and Fig. 5 is a view of a 6 modified form of connector made of two pieces.

In Fig. 1, 6 indicates the sheath of a cable made of lead or other suitable material. Inside of the sheath are three stranded sector conductors 1.

each having a covering of paper or other matel0 rial 8 to insulate it from the others, and from the sheath. 9 indicates a metal element resembling a coiled open-spiral spring, which supports the sheath and also serves as a channel or conduit for conveying insulating fluid the length of the u cable.

The connector first to bedescribed is made of` three principal pieces I0, Il and i2, the inner parts or members being in telescopic relation with the outer part or member. are counter-parts and each has a bore ofsuch size and shape as snugly to fit the outside dimensions of a stranded sectorl conductor. .As shown, the bore of each part or element I 0 and Il is preformed or machined to sector shape, g5

hand conductor facing the observer while the u apex of the right-hand conductor faces the rear. The outer end of each connector part is beveled at i3 so as to avoid the formation of shoulders where the concentration of electric stresses might be unduly great. The half connectors or mem- 40 bers are individually vslipped over the conductor ends and they make a snug fit thereon. 'I'he next step is to slip the third part or member I2 of the 'connector in place, after which it is indented by punches I6 and I'l indicated in Fig. 4. 'Ihe ends of the conductors, especially whenV they are of the sector type, are stiff and relatively unyieldin'g, and any pressure applied to change their respective angular position or shape has a tendency to disturb the insulation and may if great care is i not exercised result invdamage thereto. By using cylindricalI parts or elements such as ill and Il and an outer cylindrical member i2, the parts being free to adjust or turn one with respect to the other, no distortion or twisting of the con- Members l0 and Il gg ductors is necessary and hence there can be no injury to the insulation. Nor is any modification of the shape' of the conductors necessary. In this connection it is to be noted that the angular position of each of the parts I and II is determined by the angular position of the conductors because of the shape thereof. 'I'he outer or center member I2 of the connector has beveled ends I6, the bevel forming in effect a continuation of the bevel I3 and for the same reason.

In Fig. 4 the parts are shown in their assembled position. Provided the parts of the connector are not too thick the indenting of the inner and outer parts may be done simultaneously with the result of effecting a saving in cost of the jointing operations. In this case the indents in the outer and inner parts are aligned on each side of the center of the connector and extendaxially. This is the arrangement, shown in Fig. 4. During the pressing operation the respective ends of the conductors to be joined are separated or splayed; afterwards they are insulated and then pushed inwardly toward the axis of the cables in order to reduce the diameter of the joint casing enclosing them.

In Fig. 5 is shown a modified form of the connector made of two pieces or members instead of three. In this illustration indicates the right-hand part of the connector, and 2I the tubular part corresponding in function to the -tubular member I2 of Fig. 3. Thus in preparing the part 20, one end thereof has a preformed bore which conforms in shape and size to the sector conductor 22 inserted therein. The lefthand or cylindrical part 2i is counter-bored as indicated by the'dotted lines 23 to form a socket, the dotted lineA 24 indicating a shoulder or seat for the companion part of the connector. The right-hand end of the part 20 is beveled as indicated at 26 to avoid the formation of a radial shoulder where there would be a concentration of electrical stresses. Furthermore, the beveling of the end of this and also of the construction shown in Fig. 4 simplifies the taping of the connector for insulating purposes.

The left-hand member or element has a cylindrical portion 26 containing a bore 21 of sector.V

shape preformed as to size and shape to conform tothe stranded sector conductor 28. -It is also provided with a collar 29, the left-hand side of which is beveled at 3U for the reasons above indicated. The side of the collar opposite the beveled end is perpendicular to the axis and is arranged to seatv on one end of the member 2| of the other portion of the connector. The parts or members 20 and 26 are first applied to the sector conductors after which the part 26 is inserted in the cylindrical socket 23 of the other part. After assembly the right-hand member is indented by the punches 3l and 32 which has the effect of securely anchoring the conductors in the connector and also uniting the parts of the connector. If desired the right-hand part may be secured to the conductor before assembly by actuating the punch 3i by a suitable press, and after assembly the punch 32 may be similarly actuated; The actionbf the punch not only indents the wall of the socket, but also indents the part 26 to cause form union with the strands of conductor 28. Because the part 26 has a smooth cylindrical exterior and the socket 23 hasf'" amarre tive positions of the sector conductors determines the angular position of the respective parts.

The parts I0 and II are desirably made of relatively thin metal so that the punching operations will properly indent the outer cylindrical member I2 as well as the inner parts I0 and II, and in so doing force or wedge the strands of the conductors into firm contact with the enclosing wall. Copper is a suitable metal for the connector parts. The parts of the connector may be made from special tubing drawn to the particular size required, or they may be made from cylindrical tubing which is subsequently reshaped to give the sector contour after which the outer surface is machined to cylindrical form. As a further alternative they may be forged to the desired shape and size. Another advantage of my improved construction resides in the fact that a conductor of a given shape and size may be united with another conductor of different shape or size or differing both in shape and size by merely changing one part of the connector, for example, the part I0 of Fig. 3 or the part 26 of Fig. 5. \Also one of the parts such as I0 in Fig. 3 or 26 in Fig. 5 may be regarded as a terminal lug for connecting a cable to a terminal structure and shaped accordingly.

What I claim as new-and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A cable joint having sector shaped electrical conductors with aligned ends, a connector for vuniting the ends comprising inner members arranged in endwise relation, each member having a sector shaped bore and a cylindrical exterior surface, a cylindrical member closely surrounding the cylindrical surfaces of both of the inner members, and aligned indents in the inner and outer members for connecting them to each other and to the sector shaped conductors.

2. A cable joint having sector shaped electrii cal conductors with aligned ends, a connector therefor comprising a first member having a preformed bore of a shape and size to receive and fit over an end of one of the conductors and also a socket having a cylindrical bore, a second member having a bore of a shape and size corresponding to a second conductor and also a cylindrical portion fitted into the socket. and indents formed in said portion and also in the first and second members for uniting the connector with the conductors.

3. A joint for relatively stiff electrical conductors at least one of which is stranded and non-circular in cross-section, the conductors being arranged end to end, a connector for unit` ing adjacent ends of the conductors comprising members, each having a preformed bore into which is fitted a conductor end, one of the members having a cylindrical exterior portion, the angular position of which is determined by that of its contained conductor, a third member having a bore into which is fitted the aforesaid cylindrical exterior portion, and axially extending indents which force a part of a member into the strands of a conductor and also electrically and` mechanically unite the members.

4. A means for uniting .stranded multiple conductors of a pair of cables, the conductors of which are non-circular, and spirally arranged .70

with the result that the ends of the individual conductors to be connected may not occupy identical angular positions, comprising inner members each having a cylindrical exterior and a preformed bore corresponding in shape and size-1l to t over a non-circular conductor end, the angular position of each member being determined by its contained conductor end, a tubular outer member surrounding at least one of the inner members having a cylindrical bore in which an inner member is fitted, the adjacent cylindrical surfaces of the inner member and the bore permitting the members to be united without changing the respective angular positions of the conductors and inner members, and aligned indents in the outer and inner members which force metal of the inner member into the strands of a conductor.

5. Means for uniting adjacent ends of spiraily arranged stranded conductors of non-circular cross-section where the adjacent ends of a pair of such conductors may occupy diiferent angular positions, one with respect to the other, due to the spiral arrangement. comprising parts each having a preformed bore of non-circular crosssection of a size and shape to receive and hold conductor end, the angular position of each part being fixed and determined by that of the conductor contained therein, a connecting means for the parts, there being cylindricalengaging surfaces between at least one of the parts and the means whereby the parts may be united without changing the respective angular positions of the parts and means, and indents in the parts and connecting means which force metal thereof into the strands of the conductors.

EUGENE D. Y. 

